ACPAtmospheric Chemistry and PhysicsACPAtmos. Chem. Phys.1680-7324Copernicus PublicationsGöttingen, Germany10.5194/acp-9-4011-2009Taklimakan dust aerosol radiative heating derived from CALIPSO observations using the Fu-Liou radiation model with CERES constraintsHuangJ.1FuQ.12SuJ.1TangQ.1MinnisP.3HuY.3YiY.4ZhaoQ.51Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China2Department of Atmosphere Science, University of Washington, USA3NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, 23666, USA4Science Systems and Applications Inc., Hampton, VA 23666, USA5Gansu Meteorological Bureau, Lanzhou, 73000 China1806200991240114021This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/4011/2009/acp-9-4011-2009.htmlThe full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/4011/2009/acp-9-4011-2009.pdf

The dust aerosol radiative forcing and heating rate over the Taklimakan
Desert in Northwestern China in July 2006 are estimated using the Fu-Liou
radiative transfer model along with satellite observations. The vertical
distributions of the dust aerosol extinction coefficient are derived from
the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite
Observations) lidar measurements. The CERES (Cloud and the Earth's Energy
Budget Scanner) measurements of reflected solar radiation are used to
constrain the dust aerosol type in the radiative transfer model, which
determines the dust aerosol single-scattering albedo and asymmetry factor as
well as the aerosol optical properties' spectral dependencies. We find that the
dust aerosols have a significant impact on the radiative energy budget
over the Taklimakan desert. In the atmospheres containing
light, moderate and heavy dust layers, the dust aerosols heat the atmosphere
(daily mean) by up to 1, 2, and 3 K day<sup>&minus;1</sup>, respectively. The maximum daily mean
radiative heating rate reaches 5.5 K day<sup>&minus;1</sup> at 5 km on 29 July. The
averaged daily mean net radiative effect of the dust are 44.4, &minus;41.9, and
86.3 W m<sup>&minus;2</sup>, respectively, at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), surface,
and in the atmosphere. Among these effects about two thirds of the warming
effect at the TOA is related to the longwave radiation, while about 90%
of the atmospheric warming is contributed by the solar radiation. At the
surface, about one third of the dust solar radiative cooling effect is
compensated by its longwave warming effect. The large modifications of
radiative energy budget by the dust aerosols over Taklimakan Desert should
have important implications for the atmospheric circulation and regional
climate, topics for future investigations.